Office Pool
by Commodore Norrington
Summary: Kate lets something slip.


"Bite my boxers!"  
"Suck my socks!"  
"Oh, grow up! Both of you!" Nothing like an angry ex-Marine to get you shut up. Especially when he's your boss. "I'm sick and tired of your bickering. Now get back to work."  
"Yes, boss." Tony was brash but not stupid. He knew, for the most part, Gibbs' limit. Me on the other hand...  
I was having a bad day. Little sleep, little food, stressful case, and Tony's constant sniping at me. I finally snapped.  
"Why don't you just mind your own business?" I growled, at a volume scarcely short of a yell.  
Gibbs froze. Tony's eyes widened in shock, and probably fear, as Gibbs slowly turned toward me. I was reminded strongly of a tiger, eyeing his prey, preparing to pounce. When he finally spoke, it was in a very quiet, measured, forcibly calm voice.  
"Agent Todd, do you have a problem with the way I manage my _subordinates_?" He emphasized 'subordinates', probably to remind me of where I stood.  
Realization suddenly hit me. Gibbs was my_ boss_. What was I thinking? It was time for some serious backpedaling. I put on my innocent face.  
"No," I said, trying to sound apologetic. I left off any form of address because I wasn't sure how to address him. 'Sir' seemed appropriate, but he hated it. 'Boss' was Tony's word, and I'd always thought it was a little casual. 'Gibbs' is what I usually call him, but it seemed a bit too familiar for the circumstances.  
"No, what?" Gibbs asked. His voice remained serious, but I swear I saw that twinkle in his eye for just a second. _He knew_.  
"No, uh," I stammered, stalling. "No, uh, _bosssirgibbs_."  
Tony snorted, then covered with a small coughing fit. Gibbs' mouth twitched almost imperceptibly before he regained his composure.  
"I think you do," he growled. "And if you have a problem with me, I think you need to tell me. For the good of an efficiently running office, of course."  
"Of course," I said tersely, inwardly seething. He wasn't mad anymore, I could tell; he was toying with me. Like a cat with a mouse. I just wasn't sure whether or not he was going to eat me after he was done.  
"So, Agent Todd," he said, settling into his seat. "What seems to be the problem?"  
I glared at him. For all his counselor's tone, it was a loaded question. I couldn't say there wasn't a problem because he would say I was lying. I couldn't tell him what the problem was because I would get fired. I sighed. The first option seemed to be the less dreadful.  
"I don't have a problem –" I started.  
"Don't lie to me," he interrupted. "I'll ask you one more time: What is your problem with me?"  
_The problem is that I'm in love with my boss_, I thought. But there was no way I was going to say that.  
I heard Tony gasp loudly, and then scoop up some files and practically run out of the room. Gibbs looked as if I'd hit him between the eyes with a two-by-four. Comprehension slowly dawned. My eyes widened.  
"Did I," I squeaked. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Did I say that out loud?"  
Not losing the slightly dazed look, he nodded.  
"Oh," I said, not sure what else to say. "Um, did you want those phone records?" I turned to my desk to look through the stacks of files. I wasn't seeing the type, wasn't really sure what I was looking for. I just needed something to do with my hands and, more importantly, my eyes. I could feel the diamond-hard, cold blue eyes on me as I searched mindlessly.  
"Wait a second," he blurted. I don't think I've ever heard Gibbs blurt. Everything with him is always so careful, so measured. "You say something like that, and then just move on to...to phone records?" His voice was rising in pitch, sounding almost hysterical, but of course, Gibbs was never hysterical.  
"I'm sorry," I replied, not looking up. "I didn't know what else to say."  
"Oh, so you're just leaving me out in the cold to figure this one? To figure why you just came out with...with that?" He was resorting to the old Gibbs standby of: Don't understand something? Get mad.  
"Look, it's not like I meant to say it, okay?" I was starting to get mad, too. Mostly at myself. "Can we just forget it and try to go about our daily business?"  
"'Just forget it'? Kate, I can't 'just forget' something like that."  
"Well, what am I supposed to say? 'I didn't mean it'? Well, sorry, I did. 'I'm sorry'? Not really. What do you want me to say?" I was almost yelling by now, hardly noticing the curious stares from the few employees left in the office.  
"I want you to tell me the truth, Kate," he said softly. I think my anger calmed him slightly, made him realize that he wasn't the only one in uncharted waters. Unfortunately, his newfound serenity was all the more infuriating to me.  
"What do you think I've been doing? Lying?"  
"Just answer a couple of questions. I think you owe me that."  
I could hardly argue with that. I had dropped a bit of a bombshell. A whole nuclear bomb was more like it. I nodded.  
"Okay. First, did you mean it?"  
I nodded again, not trusting myself to speak.  
"How long?"  
I blinked. These weren't exactly angry-boss questions. "Uh," I started, trying to think. "I think it started..." I trailed off, mumbling.  
"Sorry?"  
"On Air Force One," I said clearly. He looked almost like he was going to smile.  
"Why?"  
"What?"  
"I said, why?" he repeated.  
Why? Why did he want to know? Why wasn't he berating me for not controlling myself and my emotions? Why did he look more curious and confused than angry?  
"Because...because you're...you," I managed, inwardly kicking myself for sounding so cheesy. Then, of all things, I started to cry. The stress of the day must have been getting to me. I had had a terrible day, and now, I was sure, I was about to get fired. To my complete surprise, Gibbs did not roll his eyes at this feminine display of emotion. He didn't even look annoyed at my loss of control over my emotions. Instead, he came out from behind his desk and walked towards mine. Slowly, deliberately, like he had wanted to do this for a long time but hadn't let himself. Coming around my desk, he spun my chair towards him and crouched beside me.  
I was so shocked I could barely move. Then he did something that almost made me pass out. With a surprising gentleness, he reached up with his thumb and wiped my tears. My vision clearer, I saw that he, too, had pools of liquid in his eyes. He wasn't crying, because of course Gibbs could never cry, but he was tearing. The moisture in his blue, blue eyes made them seem even more like deep pools of clear water. I stared into them, drowning, wondering somewhere in the back of my mind why he hadn't fired me but not really caring at the moment. He leaned closer...  
  
Tony stepped quietly into the bullpen. He had forgotten his cell phone in his mad dash for the door, but at the time he had thought Kate and Gibbs needed some time alone. Now, though, he was expecting a call from a gorgeous blonde and he needed his phone. The office seemed to be abandoned. Treading softly, he made his way to his desk and found the phone.  
Hearing footsteps behind him, he whipped out his 9mm and spun around. The startled security guard was reaching for his own weapon when they recognized each other.  
"Hey, Eric," Tony sighed. "You scared me."  
"Obviously. I thought I heard noises down here. Hey," Eric remembered something. "Hey, I've got something for you. Follow me."  
Eric led Tony to the security nerve center, the room where all the security guards hung out and watched the closed-circuit televisions. Eric greeted the other night guard and headed directly for a television screen.  
"Everything is recorded and stored on these babies," he said proudly. "If you don't go in specifically and save it, everything's deleted after a month. Saves space," he explained.  
Tony was a little confused. "Eric, is there anything in particular you wanted to show me? I've got a hot date in about an hour..."  
"Yeah. Here it is. I came in tonight at six. Checked all the screens as usual. Well on this one, I found something interesting..."  
He played a video from earlier that day. Tony recognized his desk, and Kate's. There was no sound, but as he saw himself and Kate enter gesticulating wildly, he knew what they were saying. They stopped suddenly, gazing at someone just out of sight of the camera. Tony sat down abruptly, but Kate responded to the off-screen person.  
Eric fast-forwarded a short piece, and then let it play again. Tony saw himself leave very quickly and leaned in eagerly, anxious to see what had happened after he had left. Kate appeared to yell at Gibbs for a few minutes, then calmed down. Then, to Tony's surprise, she started crying. Tony didn't think he had ever seen Kate cry; even after that woman had betrayed Kate's trust and almost killed them all, Kate had been too shocked to cry. But Tony's surprises were just starting.  
Gibbs came into the picture and knelt by Kate's chair. Tony's eyes widened as Gibbs reached up and wiped Kate's face with his thumb. Kate seemed transfixed, staring at Gibbs. Tony watched in awed silence as they leaned closer and...  
Kissed.  
"Yes!" he yelled, punching the air. "Haahaa!!"  
Eric watched his reaction amusedly. "Well, my friend, I'd say you're about to become a very rich man."  
"You bet! Every sucker in the office owes me. How much did you put in, Eric? Twenty? Pay up, buddy!"  
"Well, there is a minor problem. You see, I've grown rather fond of my twenty. So," he grinned evilly. "I think you're going to have to find another way to prove your theory to the office pool. Because I," he typed a few commands into the computer. "Am deleting the file."  
"Nooo!" Tony wailed, dropping to his knees in desperation. "Please, Eric, can't you get it back? I'll give you a cut! Ten percent!"  
"Sorry," Eric smiled in mock sadness. "It's gone."  
Tony sobbed into his hands, his date forgotten. Eric got up, whistling, and left to do his rounds.  
Eric smiled as he felt the two objects in his pocket. One was his twenty. The other was a small drive, the size of his thumb, holding three minutes of very valuable video. 


End file.
